Transportation: Railways: total: 886 km
(2008). Highways: total: 17,289 km; (2004 est.). Waterways: 1,120 km (commercially navigable on Congo and Oubanqui rivers above Brazzaville; there are many ferries across the river to Kinshasa; the Congo south of Brazzaville-Kinshasa to the coast is not navigable because of rapids, thereby necessitating a rail connection to Pointe Noire; other rivers are used for local traffic only) (2011). Ports and harbors: Brazzaville,
Djeno, Impfondo, Ouesso, Oyo, Pointe-Noire. Airports: 27
(2013 est.).

International disputes: the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is undefined except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area.

Geography

The Congo is situated in west-central Africa
astride the equator. It borders Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Angola exclave of
Cabinda, with a short stretch of coast on the South Atlantic. Its area is
nearly three times that of Pennsylvania. Most of the inland is tropical
rain forest, drained by tributaries of the Congo River.

Government

Dictatorship.

History

In precolonial times, the region now called the
Republic of Congo was dominated by three kingdoms: Kongo (originating
about 1000), the Loango (flourishing in the 17th century), and Tio. After
the Portuguese located the Congo River in 1482, commerce was carried on
with the tribes, especially the slave trade.

The Frenchman Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signed
a treaty with Makoko, ruler of the Bateke people, in 1880, thus
establishing French control. It was first called French Congo, and after
1905 Middle Congo. With Gabon and Ubangi-Shari, it became the colony of
French Equatorial Africa in 1910. Abuse of laborers led to public outcry
against the French colonialists as well as rebellions among the Congolese,
but the exploitation of the native workers continued until 1930. During
World War II, the colony joined Chad in supporting the Free French cause
against the Vichy government. The Congo proclaimed its independence
without leaving the French Community in 1960, calling itself the Republic
of Congo.

The Congo's second president, Alphonse
Massemba-Débat, instituted a Marxist-Leninist government. In 1968,
Maj. Marien Ngouabi overthrew him but kept the Congo on a Socialist
course. He was sworn in for a second five-year term in 1975. A four-man
commando squad assassinated Ngouabi on March 18, 1977. Col. Joachim
Yhombi-Opango, army chief of staff, assumed the presidency on April 4.
Yhombi-Opango resigned on Feb. 4, 1979, and was replaced by Col. Denis
Sassou-Nguesso.

Congo's First Free Elections Are a Model for Sub-Saharan Africa

In July 1990, the leaders of the ruling party
voted to end the one-party system. A national political conference, hailed
as a model for sub-Saharan Africa, renounced Marxism in 1991 and scheduled
the country's first free elections for 1992. Pascal Lissouba became the
country's first democratically elected president.

Political and ethnic tensions intensified in
1993 after legislative elections, when the opposition's rejection of the
results developed into violence. A peace agreement was signed between the
government and the opposition in Aug. 1994. A four-month civil war (June
5–Oct. 15, 1997) devastated Brazzaville, the capital. Buttressed by
military aid from Angola, former Marxist dictator Denis Sassou-Nguesso
overthrew President Lissouba. In late 1999 a peace agreement was signed
between Sassou-Nguesso, who comes from the north, and the rebels
representing the populous south. The postwar period has been traumatic for
the desperately poor country.

In March 2002, President Sassou-Nguesso was
reelected with 89.4% of the vote. His opponents were either barred from
the country or withdrew from the election.

The so-called Ninja rebels continued to battle
government forces, each attempting to gain or maintain control of the
country's rich oil reserves and each seemingly unconcerned about the toll
this new outbreak of violence took on civilians. In May 2003, the
government and Ninja rebels signed an agreement to end hostilities.

Sassou-Nguesso was
reelected to another 7-year term in July 2009. The opposition boycotted the election.